He who must not be named

You know who, you know, is related to you know who.

It’s a You-Know-Who Sunday on this blog. Readers of the Pakistani press will be familiar with the term “agencies”, a catch-all term for a number of intelligence outfits linked to the military establishment that go knocking on doors at midnight and broad daylight. But even they would be amused to know that:

For many years there has been an unwritten rule requiring the Pakistani media not to print nor mention the name of the Director General of Military Intelligence.

Even in Chief Justice Ifitkhar Chaudhryâ€™s recently submitted affidavit the senior intelligence officer is simply referred to as DG MI.

The first time your Blogger saw the intelligence officialâ€™s name in print was thanks to Carlotta Gall of The New York Times. Ten days ago, in a news piece about the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by the CJ, she wrote: Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ijaz, the director general of Military Intelligence and a close relative of General Musharraf. [The Glasshouse]